WINDSOR, Ont. -- Windsor Public Library Board chairman Al Maghnieh has repaid $3,000 he racked up in expenses on a library credit card that he says has since been cancelled.

The admission came at Thursday’s meeting of the library board.

“I took the initiative to make sure this was out there,” said Maghnieh, a city councillor who has chaired the board for about a year.

“It’s not like somebody came in and busted me. I took the initiative to release my expenses.”

Maghnieh said the process in place was for the holder of the credit card to review expenses every month and decide which were strictly for library business and which were not. The cardholder would then write a cheque for the difference.

Maghnieh said he charged food and catering from meetings regarding library business to the card, as well as paper pads and pens for the Canspell spelling bee, of which the library is a sponsor.

“Those differences totalled a little over $3,000 but those aren’t all personal expenses,” said Maghnieh.

“I think where the problem lies is where I think if you say personal items you say personal items for yourself, and that was a small number.”

Windsor Public Library Board vice-chair Hilary Payne said Maghnieh is being honest and handled the issue as best he could.

“He’s new to the business,” said Payne.

“I think that’s part of what’s happened here.”

Payne, a city councillor and former City of Windsor CAO, said he is personally opposed to anyone having a municipal credit card.

“When I was with the city I never had a credit card myself and I never allowed my staff to have one,” Payne said.

“The reason I have a strong feeling about it is because these kind of things can happen. It’s kind of there but for the grace of God go I. If you have a company credit card sooner or later you’re going to use it, you’re going to be short of money or something and use it for a personal purpose. The best thing to do is to never have one.”

Maghnieh said he may have charged the occasional sandwich for himself to the card, but nothing major. He said he came to the conclusion that the process as it was had the potential for bad optics and conferred with the board’s auditors, KPMG and they agreed.

“It’s not a matter of misusing, it’s a matter of compliance with the process; our process doesn’t permit that,” said Maghnieh.

“It just promotes headaches in terms of what qualifies and what doesn’t qualify. I gave it back on my own. This was before the auditors even came in. We want an audit every year. They gave it an unconditional clean bill of health.”

Maghnieh said the auditors recommended a change in practices, and new practices will be brought to the next board meeting.

“At no point in time was the library out a single cent,” said Maghnieh.

“At no point in time was the library ever at risk. At no point in time was there ever any wrongdoing and the auditors articulated that and agreed. It was an issue of being compliant with the process and making sure we comply with best practices. Your make sure you keep in tune with some of that. This is just a corrective measure and making sure this stuff doesn’t happen again.”

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